'Lilo & Stitch,' 'Mission: Impossible' wow box office with $492M global haul
The live-action remake of “Lilo & Stitch” and the adrenaline-fueled “Mission: Impossible − The Final Reckoning” racked up a combined $494.2 million in worldwide ticket sales, including $208.5 million in North America, setting the stage for a record-breaking Memorial Day weekend.
“Lilo & Stitch,” which re-imagines Disney’s 2002 animated film about a mischievous blue alien who crash lands in Hawaii and is adopted by two sisters, brought in $304.2 million around the world through Sunday, including $145.5 million from domestic sales.
"Lilo & Stitch' set a domestic box-office record for the first three days of the long holiday weekend, besting 2022's "Top Gun: Maverick," according to Comscore. That helped propelticket sales in the U.S. and Canada to a record $262 million.
The family-friendly live-action adaptation of the 23-year-old film also delivered one of the strongest performances for a Disney remake, behind 2019 computer-animated remake of “The Lion King,” which brought in $192 million, and the 2017 version of “Beauty and the Beast,” with $175 million in ticket sales, according to Walt Disney Studios.
Tom Cruise’s reprisal of his role as the death-defying spy Ethan Hunt in “Mission: Impossible,” rang up $190 million in global ticket sales, including $63 million in the U.S. and Canada. That tops the opening weekend performance of the series’ highest-grossing film, “Mission: Impossible − Fallout,” according to Chris Aronson, president of domestic theatrical distribution for Paramount Pictures.
"The sheer spectacle of what Tom (Cruise) and McQ put in as the major ingredients of this film are truly remarkable," said Aronson, referencing Christopher McQuarrie, the film's director.
The holiday haul marks an encouraging start to the summer, which typically accounts for 35% to 40% of the annual domestic box office. It also represents a shot in the arm for theater owners after a dismal March, when ticket sales were down 45% from a year earlier.
Analysts predict the Memorial Day weekend box office could be a bellwether for a strong summer in movie theaters, with a number of potential blockbusters yet to come.
Those include “Ballerina,” a spinoff of the popular “John Wick” movies, starring Ana de Armas; a live-action remake of DreamWorks' animated film “How to Train YourDragon,” and another installment in the long-running science “Jurassic World" series, "Rebirth.”
“From now up until mid-August, there is at least one new release coming out every weekend with the potential of making $100 million at the domestic box office,” said Daniel Loria, senior vice president of Boxoffice, which provides online ticketing services for movie theaters.